Thursday, October 16, 2008

Pondering plumbing…

First, thank you all for the encouragement and advice commented to yesterday’s post!

I really appreciate y’all…BIG TIME!

Shall we?

Last night Joe the Plumber got his fifteen minutes and then some during the last (thank Gawd!!) presidential debate before the election. Joe the Plumber…who may also be a Joe six-pack…was the dude who challenged Obama during a campaign event on his tax proposal saying that he’s about to buy a bitness making some $250,000 and feels Obama’s plan will tax him more.

Obama answered Joe the Plumber then…and again last night. McCain basically dedicated his debate appearance to the man.

Shit, Joe the Plumber was spoken to some 24 times during the debate between the two candidates!

Blink.

Must be nice.

Well, I’m Shark-Fu the AngryBlackBitch and I’d like to point something out to Joe the Plumber.

Cough.

Joe?

Hi!

Congrats on the new bitness.

A bitch is one of the masses that would be a potential customer for you if you were a Missouri-based plumber. We have bathrooms and sinks and toilets and such…and when shit breaks we usually turn to a plumber. But the economic crisis may impact that…and have the Family Bitch turning to Lowes and a self-help book first.

Shudder.

Not that you seem to give a damn about the rest of us working people who would LOVE to be able to afford a plumber much less buy a plumbing bitness in the middle of a fucking recession.

Shit.

Fuck it.

A bitch suspects that plumbing, like beer, is recession proof.

Pause...consider...continue.

Yeah, because this bitch would rather suffer through another debate than the horrors of do-it-yourself plumbing...

14 comments:

9 out of 10 plumping problems can be fixed with a wrench and a few cheap supplies available at. . . yes, Lowes.The other 10% aren't much more difficult.$100/hr plumbers DO NOT deserve 15 minutes of fame!!!!!!

Obama: I'm talking to you Joe. You know how much you'll be fined for not providing health care to your workers? Zero.McCain: Zero?Obama: Well yeah since I said IN THE LAST DEBATE that small businesses would be exempt from the requirement.McCain: (Deer in the headlights, spasms, creepy smile)

Read online today that Joe the Plumber isn't licensed in Ohio or the business he works for..nor has he paid his personal property tax??? lol Me thinks McCain has done Joe the Plumber no favors by pointing the finger at him??? Yep, Home Depot is my second store next to Wally World!

The way this is being used one wonders if "Joe the Plumber" wasn't a plant, the issue of taxes is the ONLY issue the Republicans use when speaking on the economy, and they have realised that they can't distract people with their usual nonsense. This "random" conversation with "average American made flesh" puts it out there.

The thing is, people don't seem to give a shit, whenever "Joe" came up the independents response on CNN was to dial down. Are the times not more desperate than this? Like I said on my blog, when the Michigan governor is starting a "Food Stamp Challenge" and telling people to try and eat on $5.78 a day, who gives a shit?

If a plumber charges $100 an hour, then that is what his labor is worth. Assuming he has customers at that rate.

Some plumbing jobs require a lot more than a wrench and a plunger. What if you need a new leech field? You want to dig that thing yourself? I don't.

Anyhow - his not having a license is apparently not a problem. In that state if you just do basic jobs for residential customers all is good. Licenses are for commercial work, and likely things like digging up a sewer line or putting in a new septic system.

But this "Joe" guy is not what he seems. As it turns out, the business in question will not make $250k - $280k a year. And he is not really going to buy it.

I doubt this Joe guy was ever going to vote for Obama. I heard a press conference he held and it was one right wing talking point after another. Straight from right wing talk radio.

But to each their own. He is a real person. And he is free to vote for whoever he wants.

And even if he was buying a business that was going to gross $300k a year - getting that figure under $250k would be easy.

Expand the business. Buy more capital equipment. Hire more employees. Capital equipment, wages paid, inventory, and general business expense is SUBTRACTED from the gross, you only pay taxes on the net.

I could take a sole proprietor business that was pulling in $10 million in profit, spend $9.8 million expanding that business, claim an income of $200k, and fall in the "tax cut" bracket. Not a problem.

If you ask me, giving small business an incentive to net under $250 will encourage them to expand. Even more so if they are close to that cut off amount.

Joe could just buy a couple of new vans for his business. This means that a car dealer makes a few bucks, and then can afford to hire Joe to unclog the toilet. And so on.